The Story of Gaby Olthuis

Get the whole story,

"I have tinnitus and I want to die"

youtube.com/watch?v=HGcUJ2Dg3uo

 

I'm from the Netherlands, like Gaby, and on April 15 th 2014, this documentary was published on TV.
I was in shock, I did not have T!!
I went surfing the internet, because I was fascinated by it. I thought 'Wow, this is horrible. What a nightmare for this woman, this must be one of the worst things that can happen to someone'.

3 weeks later....... on May 3th 2014...
I got it myself....
Tinnitus!
Still can't believe it


R.I.P. Gaby
She had also very very bad H.
She even could not stand the voice of her own children.
Too loud.

 

There has to be a T sufferer on here who is a filmmaker. I say make a film about a T sufferer and show the true horrors that they go thru facing doctors and so forward. Nothing tells a story or gets the message across better then film.

 

If only she could've tried keppra, it might've saved her...I feel sympathetic to her, she tried her best and to be honest the amount of years she tried was indicative that she wanted to live but it got way too much for her.

 

I studied film and still do some projects once in a while ... money is always an issue .. if there was funding it would be a great idea to do a film actually. price of somehting like this goes very high because you want to interview doctors and researchers all over the world...

 

No I mean an actual fictional story based off this terrible condition. Like have the main character be a kid in his 20s and he develops T after a rock concert or something like that. Then recreate all the bs weve been thru with negligent doctors and friends and family not really understanding. Show it from his POV.

 

Hope this can happen as it can raise awareness regarding tinnitus. I personally never heard of it beforehand.

 

Me neither. All I ever heard growing up is loud noise will make you go deaf which that alone is horrible but I never heard that it could have the opposite effect on me

 

Yep, that's what I thought. I told my doctor I had reoccurring ear infections was never told it could cause tinnitus, could've been prevented if they told me...They only told me about swimmers ear when I got tinnitus, cheers!

 

Was she on this forum? Does anybody know?

 

Gaby? No.

 

Stories like this need to be seen by the non Tinnitus world. We all ready know our own nightmare!
They need to learn about it. Governmental officials need to learn about this horror!!!!

 

There are politicians with T and they don't talk about it............we have politicians in the UK govt and say nothing about it except just a little bit of T which is what people think it is........

 

Oh gosh, such a beautiful , wise woman who had to leave young kids...but I wonder: did she really try all there is? Even trobalt, benzos, whatever? Why was it getting worse? I too feel she should have waited a bit more..and I fully agree there should be a film about this!!

 

Personally, her hyperacusis could've been treated. She shouldn't have had to die...If only she joined tinnitus talk.

 

They mostly have mild tinnitus I expect and mild tinnitus isn't that bad.

 

Well, I can imagine there are extreme, uncurable cases..maybe she was one of them. I wish we could know. I guess even Trobalt or keppra wont work for everybody, but I wonder if she even tried...yep, she should have joined TT..but it's possible that she read it...I almost can't believe people have to chose to die in 21century without terminal deasease..

 

I wonder who it would have to take so that the whole world is aware of it like it's aware of cancer : I'm thinking the pope? Queen Elizabeth or half of the royal family?

 

Well, I wasn't on tinnitus talk at the time. And I agree we don't know if they can work for anyone, but it was worth a try rather than her die. You see, I'm passionate about helping people. I am actually now cured of hyperacusis, reactive tinnitus and barely have tinnitus now. Like 1 out of ten, I was 10/10 last October. Been on trobalt for 8 months been off of it for 5 days nearly now.

 

You are like the Dr.Nagler of Trobalt and Keppra lol.

 

Great, @DannyBoy, let's hope it will stay this way. .

 

Well, what can I say? Is there any other meds aside from benzos which work?

 

Nope, I was just trying to be funny.

 

TRT! Lmao

 

I have two children, a wife and a small white fluffy dog (and a very old cat that hides from the dog) .
Even before getting tinnitus, I was a very positive person who always thought (and still think) that I am one of the luckiest people in the world. An old Persian saying (I am not Persian) goes: "I used to complain about not having shoes, until I met a man with no feet."

All my life, this is how I have dealt with all problems that have popped up:
1. Accept reality (denial is unhelpful) --It is not an easy task to truly accept reality. When I say "accept" reality, I mean accept it to the point that you do not have a negative emotion reaction to the acceptance. It must be a sort of detached acceptance.
2. quickly move towards seeking a "solution" phase
3. avoid self-pity.
4. focus on accepting things as they are, AND SIMULTANEOUSLY, seek improvement of the situation/condition (# 4 is hard for many people because the simultaneously part is easier said than done)
5. sometimes the ONLY solution for the present time is acceptance.

Most people will struggle with truly and deeply accepting the ground reality, and at the same time seeking a solution, and over-coming the inherent contradiction therein. As an example, its like telling a person who is in prison for life without the possibility of parole, to accept his reality, and yet seek to escape from the prison. There is a fundamental logical contradiction therein, and that is why #4 is quite difficult for most people, including me)

Finally, I have noticed that my problem with T seems to recede into a better perspective, when I believe that I have much to GIVE to the world. That I am still big enough to give to this world, to make the world a better place (one small deed at a time), that I have the power to make things better for others, and of course, that my health problems are part and parcel of the human experience.

My sympathies to this poor lady and her kids.

 

This woman is a martyr. I respect her to the outmost max. for her action. I find her decision to be brave and bold and if I was not as much a coward I would choose the same route as she did.

Do you want to live a life full of suffering or do you want to determine your fate on your own terms? We all die eventually. If the pain and discomfort are too severe to be able to live a functional, happy, fulfilling life, I find it better to go out as long as you might still have a memory of who you were and how you felt before your life was ended by whatever hellish health issue involved. And yes, this definitely applies to severe T&H as well.

 

Wow. Never heard of that story before. This is so sad and important. The documentary should be widely seen. She was a beautiful woman. We can't just sit and accept that a life was wasted like this.

The idea of a fictional feature film you were talking about last year is great. I can help with that. Those who want to talk about such a project, please contact me.

Time for awareness. We are many people here with many different skills. All this shit must end. We owe this to Gaby.

 

Heads up for everyone.

Tinnitus is getting a lot of exposure on Reddit today with more than 2000 comments.

 

Finally, Gaby got some attention.

About time...

 

Lemme guess, she didn't try a tenotomy or botox in the middle ear and the Israeli doctor's name was Dr Shemesh? pffff